


It Takes Two to Tango

by im_fairly_witty



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 13:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13318683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_fairly_witty/pseuds/im_fairly_witty
Summary: Teenage Oscar and Felipe are charged with watching five-year-old Coco for the day, a difficult task when paired with their sister Imelda's strict directions to keep their niece away from music.





	It Takes Two to Tango

“But Imelda, we were going to work on our new project today!” Oscar said, looking up from the workbench.

“We don’t have time to watch Coco, you can’t just suddenly throw off all our plans like that!” Felipe finished, setting down his freshly drawn leather pattern.

The teenage twins looked pleadingly at their older sister as she draped a thin purple shawl over her shoulders. Imelda was unimpressed, as usual.

“I’ve been telling you I’ll be gone today for the past week.” She said irritably, packing some food into a small traveling basket. “Ceci’s taking measurements for my new dress today and it’s been far too long since we’ve had the chance to spend time together. I’ll be back late tonight, I’m counting on you both to watch Coco while I’m gone.”

“You did not tell us a week ago.” Oscar said, folding his arms in his best Imelda impression.

“Yeah, we would have remembered.” Felipe said, his arm folding turning into nervous hand wringing at the last second under Imelda’s frosty look.

“You two are going to go to the plaza at eleven to pick up our shipment of laces, then make sure Coco is down for her nap as soon as you get back. No getting distracted by one of your projects while Coco is awake, and no music. ¿Lo entiendes?”

“Imelda!” Felipe groaned, standing.

“Why don’t we ever get to go out and do stuff?” Oscar grumbled, shoving a set of pliers into his leather apron pocket.

“Well if you really want a new dress that badly Oscar, I’ll be sure to tell Ceci.” Imelda smirked as she slung her basket over her arm.

“Mamá!” Coco cried, running into the room. The little five year-old buried her face in Imelda’s skirts. “Are you leaving? Why are you going? Can I come? Por favor?”

Imelda’s face softened as she knelt down to hug Coco. “Don’t worry, pequeña mariposa. I promise I’m only going to be gone for a few hours. Mamá’s just going to go visit Tia Ceci for a little bit.”

Oscar and Felipe snuck a look at each other as Coco hung onto her mamá’s neck, the normally bright little girl uncharacteristically nervous.

Ever since he-who-must-not-mentioned had left two years ago, their niece and sister had become understandably anxious whenever they were seperated, even for only a few hours at a time.

Oscar scratched the back of his head, which Felipe knew meant he wasn’t so mad about babysitting anymore. Felipe sighed, which Oscar knew meant that he agreed, their project would have to wait until later.

“Alright,” Imelda said, kissing the top of Coco’s head and standing. She looked at the twins. “remember, shoelaces at eleven, nap at noon, no music.”

The twins nodded with minimal eye-rolling, just enough to show that they weren’t happy about babysitting, even if they were going to do it. Imelda nodded, bent down to hug Coco one more time and then swept out the door.

Coco stood at the open door, bouncing up and down on her heels nervously as she watched her mother walk out the courtyard and disappear down the street.

“Hey, Coco!” Oscar called, waving their sobrina over to the workbench.

“Come tell us what you think of our new shoe design.” Felipe said, doing his part to distract her.

Coco wiped her nose with the smallest of sniffles, but looked over at them. “What kind of shoe is it?”

“It’s kind of like a boot.” Oscar said, holding out his arms to her as she walked over.

“But we’re putting way more laces on the top half and it’s got sequins all over it.” Felipe said, clearing a place for her at the workbench as Oscar lifted her up to join them.

“Sequins?” Coco said, her interest peaked. “But why?”

“For performing.” Felipe pointing at their design drawing, tipping the paper for her to see.

“They’ll flash and gimmer when they move.” Oscar said, dipping his hand onto a small container of navy sequins on the workbench and playfully sprinkling a few on the design.

“Is it a dancing shoe?” Coco asked, starting to bounce up and down on the bench with excitement. “Can I try it? I won’t let Mamá see me, I promise.”

The twins looked at each other nervously. Their sister’s strict music ban made sense, kind of, but it made it dangerous to talk about anything even closely related to music, which included dancing. For now Coco was old enough to keep her love of dancing a secret, but the twins were always nervous that one day she’d slip up, and then who knew what kind of new rule Imelda would make?

Imelda had become cold and sharp in the past couple years, like an important flame inside her had been snuffed out. They couldn’t be sure what she might do anymore, and it made them uneasy.

“Hey, you know what? I think we need to head to the plaza soon.” Oscar said, rolling up their design.

“Let’s get you some food and then we’ll walk over, alright?” Felipe said, taking the rolled up parchment and shaking the sequins inside back into their little cardboard box.

The twins glanced at each other over the worktable, Felipe raised his eyebrows and Oscar nodded in agreement. Pick up the laces and then get Coco down for a nap, they could handle that. The faster they got her asleep the sooner they could get back to their project without the risk of unauthorized dancing.

***

“Muchas gracias Señor.” Felipe said. He took the large box of laces from the merchant, staggering a little under its unexpected weight.

Oscar’s eyebrow twitched, which Felipe knew meant that he was laughing at him. Oscar kept otherwise dignified though as he counted out coins into the merchant’s hand before they turned to leave.

“Careful,” Oscar smirked, “that box of string must be really heavy.”

“Shut up,” Felipe said, bumping the into his brother’s shoulder as they walked. “at least I’m doing something useful.”

“Idiota.” Oscar chuckled, catching his glasses before they fell off his face and shoving Felipe back.

“Tonto.” Felipe grinned.

“Coco.” Oscar’s eyes widened.

“Qué?” Felipe looked around with a jolt of panic.

The little girl was nowhere to be seen in the bustling town plaza.

“You were supposed to be watching her!” Oscar said, putting a hand to his head as they stopped walking, sheltering from the hot sun under one of the plaza trees.

“What? I’m carrying the box!” Felipe said.

“Well I was carrying the money!” Oscar said, spinning to try and see through the crowd.

They were both quite tall for their age, but there were still too many people for only a few extra inches to be of any use. Busy shoppers were going from vendor to vendor and a mariachi group was playing at the center of the square, their cheerful music blocking out any chance they had to hear the voice of a small girl somewhere in the crowd.

“Here.” Felipe set the wooden crate down and stood on it, lacing his fingers together and bending over.

Oscar nodded and stepped his Rivera wingtip shoe onto his brother’s hands, jumping as Felipe boosted him up into the branches of the tree above them. Oscar snagged a branch and pulled himself up, then used his hand to block the sun’s glare from his glasses as he looked over the plaza.

Felipe watched anxiously from the ground as they both tried to think. If they were Coco, where would they run off to?

Both brothers smacked their forehead in an identical motion as the obvious answer occurred to them. Of course.

Oscar glanced over to where the mariachi were playing, sure enough, a small crowd was beginning to gather around the musicians, as if watching something just in front of them.

“Imelda’s going to turn us into shoe leather.” Felipe called up.

“Not if she doesn’t find out!” Oscar said, dropping to the ground beside him.

It took a bit of doing, but the twins quickly made their way through the gathering crowd, pushing their way to the front. There in the clearing the crowd had made in front of the musicians was a little girl, dancing her heart out to the upbeat music now being played just for her as the crowd clapped and smiled.

The twins stopped at the edge of the clearing, biting their lips as they watched Coco, seemingly without even realizing anyone was watching. She practically glowed with joy as she spun and pranced, her young enthusiasm more than making up for her clearly invented dance moves.

The twins looked at each other. This was undoubtedly the happiest they had seen Coco in months.

“We need to stop her.” Oscar said.

“Definitely.” Felipe agreed.

But neither of them moved, only glancing back at their sobrina. Her little pink-ribboned braids flipped back and forth, somehow making her look even more joyful as she danced.

“You know what, I left the box of laces over by the tree.” Felipe said, raising an eyebrow.

Oscar nodded sagely as they both turned away from Coco’s dancing, “Imelda wouldn’t want us to forget the laces.”

“It might take us a few minutes to get them.” Felipe said as they slowly, slowly made their way back through the crowd.

“There’s just no helping it.” Oscar agreed, his small crooked smile mirroring his brother’s.

Moving at their current leisurely pace it would take them perhaps fifteen minutes to retrieve the laces and return to Coco. Plenty of time for the mariachi to play through several more songs, giving Coco the chance to dance to her heart’s content.

“You know Imelda would kill us.” Oscar said, his head bobbing to the music as they continued at their comically slow pace through the crowd. It had been so long since they’d let themselves linger around music and it felt good.

“Not if she doesn’t find out.” Felipe said, tapping the rhythm out on his pant leg and glancing back to where Coco was still dancing. There was no trace of sadness or anxiety on her smiling face.

It might only be a few minutes before they would have to pull her away and take her home, but as far as the twins were concerned, that was more than enough happiness for Coco to justify the risk.

There was no worry that she would run off again in the time it took them to get back either. For better or worse she was still Hector’s daughter, which meant they would always be able to find her wherever the music was.


End file.
